Teaching my boys to leave the gun and take the cannoli.

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Tag Archives: Yung-le

In case you were wondering, but afraid to ask, the two “tt’s” in the DaddyMatt.com blog header actually make up the Chinese surname, Lin (林). Looking at the symbol, you probably noticed it resembles two crosses or two trees–for good reason.

This character (木), in Mandarin, is the word “tree.” And when you add the second tree, the word changes to “forest.”

Still doesn’t explain why it’s in my blog header, right?

My sons, Chase and Jackson, who we adopted from Taiwan, share the same birth mom (and we were told the same birth father). Her surname is Lin. Chase’s Chinese name is Lin Yung-Ai (Forest of Everlasting Love) and Jackson’s is Lin Yung-Le (Forest of Everlasting Joy).

As their father, it is my awesome responsibility to help shape them into men who live to honor God, seek wisdom, give their best, treat others better than themselves–and root root root for the Yankees .

This verse from the Psalms has become my prayer for my boys.

Psalm 1:3 points out what separates a righteous man from the fool. The righteous man is this:

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers.”

A strong tree (and man) is constantly being supplied by what it needs most. I want Chase and Jackson to always have a constant flow of love, support, grace, patience, learning, correction and for them to dig their roots deeply into Christ.

Also trees don’t bear fruit for their own benefit. As men who follow Jesus, my prayer is for Chase and Jackson to succeed at living out a story that will benefit everyone around them.

If this happens, let’s just say … you will beg them to date your daughters.

I’m reminded daily, before they can become that kind of Psalm 1:3 man, I need to be that man as an example for them. Thus the name of my blog … DaddyMa林.com.